


Fate Fanfiction - Dark Path

by Dark_Mechanic_Heart



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26344393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Mechanic_Heart/pseuds/Dark_Mechanic_Heart
Summary: What if Emiya Kiritsugu had never found Shiro in the ruins of Fuyuki? What if, a few years later, he had met a rather peculiar boy whom he had finally adopted? A boy who had to live with a heavy secret and who, in spite of himself, would end up taking part in the most terrible battle of his life.This fanfiction takes up events from Fate's three routes with a different main character, both by his nature and by his psychology and actions.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Prologue

There was once a man with an ideal, an ideal he would have done anything to reach. Some said that he was a cold-blooded killer; a crazy murderer obsessed with an unreachable dream. Other saw in him a "Saint" entrusted with God's will. Either way, the dream of that man was pure. To save the world, that was all he asked for. And to achieve this, he kept covering his hands with blood again and again without ever questioning his judgment nor doubting of his goal.

  
He would eventually find the solution in its despair. The Holy Grail War. A fight to the death opposing 7 magus of which the winner would see his dearest wish granted by the Grail. An ultimate bloodbath before redemption.However, this last fight would cost him all he had left. His apprentice. His wife. His daughter. And even the ideal he had fought so hard to achieve.

  
A few years later, after settling in Fuyuki and drawing a line over his previous life, he travelled abroad in search of his daughter who was still alive. But, the Einzberns, holed up in their castle in the heart of their snowy mountains, never gave him the opportunity to see her again. More desperate than he had ever been, he ended up hearing about a remote place in Europe where it was said that terrible things were happening. If he had somehow given up on his heroic aspiration, something inside him, the last and tiniest remnant of the man he was a long time ago, drove him to go and see with his own eyes.

  
There, in an abandoned mansion deep in the woods, he had only found Death once again. Blood stains covered the walls and the floor of the building while corpses were lying here and there, partially torn to pieces. A true vision of horror, even for someone who had seen the verge of Hell. But it was nothing compared to what awaited him in the vault. Converted into a laboratory, the room held two rows of medical beds. In each of them laid a child whose age should not have been more than 6-7 years old. All of them were dead, their limbs firmly restrained by leather straps, whilst translucent pipes connected to an odd equipment were sticking out of their chests and noses.  
Bile had rose to the man's mouth as he collapsed to his knees, his eyes filled with tears. Wherever he went, death followed him like a shadow.  
Suddenly a faint noise was heard. The man had stood up and, his finger on the trigger of his gun, had moved towards the source of the sound. Behind a tank of dubious content, a pale form was curled up, trembling from all its body. It was a boy with tangled blond hair, his hands and mouth coated with blood. He had glanced in panic at the man, who had kept approaching without saying a word. The child's fierce silvery-blue irises eventually met the man’s empty dark eyes. They had stayed like this a few moments, staring at each other in silence as if they were communicating through their simple glances. The man knew the nature of the being before him. Dark memories had brought him back for a brief moment to that very night on the island of Alimango, the night when it all began. The screams, the metallic smell of blood, the burning heat of flames and his feeling of terror and helplessness, he had remembered it perfectly. He knew that he should have shot and his hand tightened. But he had finally dropped his weapon which fell on the tile floor with a sharp noise as he pressed the boy close to him, tears of joy and sadness mixed streaming down his cheeks.

  
The child wore a medallion around his neck with almost illegible inscriptions. Only the first three letters were decipherable: M – A – X  
“Nice to meet you, Max," Emiya Kiritsugu had whispered, patting his head gently. "Everything's going to be all right now."

That's how the man that would later become my adoptive father found me and that's also how my story started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my first time writing a Fanfiction and my first big piece of writing in English which isn't my mother language so please be indulgent c:


	2. Chapter 1: First Night

** Chapter 1 **

**- _Fuyuki City, northern end of Miyama Town-_**

An alarm clock rang in one of the rooms of a traditional residence typical of the northern part of Miyama Town. The young man who occupied it, already awake for a long time, waited with his silvery-blue eyes staring at the ceiling for the alarm to go off by itself after a few dozens of seconds. He sighed at ease. _A new day…_

After stretching out his arms languorously, he slowly crawled out from under his duvet, holding back a yawn. The dark circles that began to appear under his eyes indicated his lack of sleep. However, he didn't feel the least bit tired and, as usual, he took advantage of the few minutes he had left before changing clothes to do some workouts. Once these were done, without a single drip of sweat beading up on his pale skin, he quickly changed to his uniform and left the room for the kitchen. There, a girl with violet hair and eyes of the same colour was getting ready to prepare breakfast.

“- Good morning, Senpai", she greeted him in a cheerful voice. "Did you sleep well?"

"- Good morning, Sakura, he replied returning her smile. "Not more than usual, but I'm fine. Thank you for waiting for me. Let me help you a bit."

Matching words with action, he put on his apron, and the two friends began to cook as they would usually do before heading to school. The meal was almost ready when a woman with short light brown hair and eyes entered the room, her face still sleepy.

"- Good morning", she yawned before sitting in front of the TV screen and putting on the news." Shall we eat soon? I’m soo hungry."

Taiga Fujimura. An English teacher at the Homurahara Academy, and the supervising teacher for the Archery Dojo. Having known Emiya Kiritsugu for quite a long time, she became the legal guardian of the young man after the death of his adoptive father and would often came to take a meal and spend the night at the Emiya residence of which she was co-owner. However, this did not prevent her from acting clumsy, childish and irresponsible, much to the displeasure of the two teenagers living with her.

" - Just a few more minutes and it's all good”, he answered, amused.

As he set the table, he listened to the news with one ear. They weren’t very good, not at all actually.

<< In the last few days, gas leaks have repeatedly occurred in the northern district of Fuyuki. The cause remains unknown at this stage but more information should be communicated to us later today. Several burglaries have also been reported, and the police is urging citizens to be careful and not to loiter outside at night. >>

“– Again ? “, Taiga said with surprised, her head resting on the table.

" - Quite unusual for this part of the town”, declared the young man while setting the last dishes on the table.

Fuyuki was a generally peaceful town, only disturbed by the comings and goings of students and the various festivities that took place there throughout the year. It was therefore indeed exceptionally rare for incidents of this kind to occur, especially with such regularity.

A few minutes later, the three of them were sitting in front of their breakfast from which a tempting aroma emanated, making their mouth water.

“- Itadakimasu!”, said the two friends, bowing before quietly starting their meal.

All that could be heard was the echo of chopsticks and the sound of chewing. After taking a few bites, Sakura looked up at him.

“- How is it, Senpai?”, she happily asked. “I think I did quite well this time.”

The young man hastily swallowed what he had left in his mouth before answering.

" It's delicious, Sakura! You have made many progresses since the last time. "

Fujimura nodded her head, eyes narrowed, enjoying her meal to the full.

"- Thanks Senpai, the young girl replied, her cheeks slightly reddened by pride. “I'm glad that you like it."

He felt himself blushing in turn and went back into his tasting, avoiding the amethyst look of his friend.

Sakura Matou, a first year who was also attending at the Homurahara Academy. Their relationship had started only 2 years ago after an accident had kept him away from the archery club of which he has been a member for quite some time. Taiga being responsible of the club, she had encouraged him to join it as soon as he entered the academy. He had quickly become a talented archer and had made some friends including Sakura's older brother, Shinji. However, one day, as he was going to walk back home, he had noticed the siblings in the middle of a heated conversation just in front of the building. Before he could have intervened, Shinji had suddenly punched his sister in the face who had fell off, her eyes in tears, as he kept taunting her. If he wasn't the type to feel sorry for others, Shinji's behavior had sickened him and even with only one arm he had given him a good beating. He had then offered Sakura to come to his place for dinner, thus temporarily keeping her away from her brother, and days after days it became a habit. At some point, they had started cooking together and, preferring western cuisine as he did, she quickly learned his techniques and became very good at it, sometimes even better than him. But unlike most people thought, including Taiga which was always teasing him about that, there was no romance between them. He was just his Senpai, and as such it was his duty to support and encourage his kohai. This didn’t necessarily mean he was completely indifferent to her charms; he was still a teenager after all. But love was, in its simplest form, something he could have never really be able to fully comprehend.

" - Would you mind walking Sakura home tonight? I have a meeting with a friend in town, so I don't think I'll be able to come back."

\- No problem, he accepted, wiping the corner of his mouth with a napkin.

\- But...I-I can come back on my own you know, Fujimura-sensei, complained the young girl embarrassed that she was still perceived as a helpless little girl.

\- Oh don't worry Sakura. I think he would have proposed it himself even without my asking, wouldn't you Max? she twitted him, insisting on the last word with an impish tone.

The latter shook his head in exasperation. "Max Emiya" was indeed his name, a name that sounded horribly wrong, and by far. Moreover, most of his schoolmates preferred to refer to him by his surname as his first name wasn't extremely easy to pronounce in Japanese. But Kiritsugu had named him like that so that was how he was called. And actually, even without knowing his name, one could have immediately guess that he wasn't born in Japan just by taking a look at his short blond hair, his silvery-blue eyes and especially at his stature. With 1,80 m, he was indeed taller than most teenagers he knew.

Ignoring his guardian, he grabbed one of the flasks of sauce he was about to pour onto his meal. However, as he pulled the cap off, a sour smell came tickling his nostrils.

"- Good try, Fuji-nee," he mocked the woman whose malicious expression was instantly replaced by frustration. "Next time, instead of just exchanging the labels, you could also try to cover the smell"

" - It's so unfair', she lamented, completely down that his prank failed. "Nothing ever works with you..."

The day had gone by rather quickly. After clearing the table and washing the dishes, the two students had left the residence for school, walking together through the town that was slowly waking up. Fall was well underway, and the wind was tearing off the few remaining leaves from the trees, which then twirled in the breeze. Before long, temperatures would drop and the firsts snows would herald the beginning of winter.

Upon arriving in front of the academy, Max had wished Sakura a good day before heading to class. Lessons had followed one after the other as usual, and apart from the announcement that had been made at the end of the morning encouraging the students to head back home directly without attending their clubs, nothing special happened. Well, one thing had actually surprised several people: the fact that Rin Tohsaka, the idol of the academy, was absent, which was pretty rare. Although he never really had the opportunity to chat with her, the young man knew she was very popular among his male classmates and that she came from a rich family whose immense mansion was located in the foreigner district.

By the time the bell had rung most of the students had gone straight home and the sun was now disappearing below the horizon, its last rays casting thicker and thicker shadows on the building. Max was the only soul left in the academy, walking in one of the corridors of the third floor towards the stairs. As one of her teachers was absent, Sakura had finished early and went home on her own, just like she had wanted to do it. The young man, meanwhile, had been able to stay a bit longer than everyone because, if he was no longer involved in any club at the moment, he would still sometimes helped where he could. As for today, it should have been Shinji's turn to clean the archery club local, but, as usual, he had slipped away as soon as classes were over, so Max volunteered. The place was special for him and reminded him of good memories and thus, earphones in his ears, he had applied himself to properly clean everything without realizing the time going by.

When he had finished, rather proud of him, he had taken everything back to the caretaker's room and was now getting ready to go to the exit. Apart from the sound of his footsteps on the tile floor, silence reigned over the Homurahara Academy, which took on the air of a haunted building in the growing darkness. As he walked down the first steps, a sound coming from outside suddenly made him stop dead in his tracks. A metallic, dry and brutal noise which repeated itself over and over again. At first he believed in the sound of a construction machine or an object stirred by the wind that was gradually rising. But as he listened more attentively, he realised it didn't make sense. First of all because the sound was repeated with such frequency and intensity that it would have taken a real storm to make it happen. And secondly, because although he did hear a metallic clang that resembled the sound you could sometimes hear around worksites, he however wasn't hearing any of the characteristic engine roaring of such equipment. Something else that had also caught his attention was that each sound seemed to follow the other as if it was a response to the previous one. The young man's heart began beating faster as a bad feeling started overwhelming him. _What is that?_

His curiosity finally prevailing over his mistrust, he turned around and cautiously approached one of the numerous windows in the hallway. At the same moment, a ray of moonlight appeared between the clouds and illuminated the courtyard below. The students couldn't believe his eyes when he dared look down.

Over there, a few hundred metres away, in the middle of the stretch of trampled earth that served as a training ground for sports classes, two people were fighting each other. One was dressed in blue, the other in red; one was fighting with swords, the other with a spear. _What is going on here?!_

From where he was, he enjoyed a perfect view on the fight happening three floors below. The man in red appeared to be rather on the defensive, parrying his opponent's attacks one by one with his two blades before throwing himself at him as soon as an opening arose. The other seemed to be a way more aggressive fighter, wildly swinging his scarlet spear with a smile on his face as if he was enjoying the situation. Taking advantage of the range offered by his weapon, he made a good step back before returning to the charge, delivering a powerful blow that the man in red blocked by crossing his swords, the impact producing a shock wave that caused the glass to vibrate in front of the young man who couldn't get his eyes off the scene anymore.

To anyone who would have witnessed the confrontation, the fact that the two combatants weren't human would have been evident. Their movements were just too fast and their blows too powerful for it to be the case. But what were they then? He couldn't figure it out. What was certain, however, were the intentions of the two fighters. Their thirst for blood was such that the student felt it as if it was his own. They were definitively trying killing each other. The question then was, why? He didn't have any answers for that either, all he knew was that the longer he stood there observing them, the more likely it was that they would notice his presence.

He therefore decided to slip away as long as he could, but had he barely had the time to take a few steps that he noticed something was wrong.

The sound. It had stop as soon as he had moved away from the window.

The atmosphere, already as heavy as on a stormy day, suddenly became even more so as an absolute silence had settled over the building which was still shrouded by darkness. Max stood still for a moment, all his senses on the lookout for any sign of danger. But nothing happened. Everything remained perfectly noiseless. He relaxed a little with a sigh of relief. _Oh man...If they'd known I was peeping on them, I wouldn’t have given myself a chance..._

However, this moment of respite was short-lived as he suddenly felt the same thirst for blood that he had felt a few moments before, with the difference that it was now focused on him. With a shiver running down his spine, the young man tried to determine the origin of the threat that seemed to be closing in on him, but in vain. _It doesn’t seems like I really have the choice..._

With his heart pumping, he gradually slowed down his breathing to a point where it was almost no longer perceptible before unleashing his senses. His pupils, until then perfectly normal, suddenly narrowed like those of a feline while his silver-blue irises took on a reddish tint. All sounds, smells and colours were suddenly clearer to him.

One could have said that was happening to him was something within the supernatural realm. But the disturbing truth was that Max Emiya wasn't human. Well, not entirely. What was he? That, he couldn't even completely answer himself. Nonetheless, it was certain that both in terms of physical and sensory abilities, he was completely on another level. And by far. But even like that, he still couldn't identify the menace that was hanging above him like a thunderstorm on the verge of breaking out.

By closing his eyes to stimulate his hearing and sense of smell, he could hear the wing flapping of a moth desperately trying to reach a street light on the other side of a window on the lower floor, or detecting the pungent scent of sweat coming from the lockers downstairs.

As he was about to give up on his sensory investigation, he suddenly detected a slight displacement of air that caused all his hairs to bristle before having barely the time to dodge the weapon that had been thrown at him. The weapon was a spear, a scarlet spear to be exact. It had slit through the air at a ridiculous speed before sticking itself in a wall as if the latter was nothing but butter. Max winced at the thought that his body could have suffered the same fate if he had moved a millisecond too late. _That was close !_

" - Yo !", called a loud voice behind him.

The young man swiftly leapt to his feet. In front of him stood the blue dressed man that he had seen fighting in the courtyard a few moments ago. He was wearing a deep ultramarine tights outfit that covered most of his body, allowing his musculature to be seen underneath. His hair, also blue, were arranged in a rattail which, together with a pair of silver earings, granted him a wild look.

" - That was quite an impressive move, kid", he added in a surprisingly jocular tone. " Rare are the people who can boast about escaping my spear".

As he pronounced those words, the spear pulled itself out of the wall before returning to its owner's hands under the astonished gaze of the student who was bringing his hand to his chest. His fingers were quickly stained with blood. _Shit…_ If he had indeed dodged a certainly lethal blow, the pain radiating from a gash stretching across his torso indicated, however, that the spear didn't completely fail to hit his target.

"- But you saw too much. Now, die!"

His eyes shining like those of a bloodthirsty predator, the man charged his prey at full speed, the tip of his spear trying to strike the heart of his prey.

Having seen the attack coming, Max nimbly dodged the consecutive two blows that were dealt to him with a uncanny agility. When the lancer tried to get him for the third time in a row, he dodged again, grasped the shaft of his weapon and, using it as a pole , kicked him right in the ribs. The power of the kick would have made anyone completely unable to fight, if he hadn't kill them. But the beastly warrior took it with a grunt.

"- You got me well right there, you bastard," he snarled, clutching his spear in his hands, a threatening grin on his face.

The young man wasn't very confident. Although he had managed to knock his opponent, the latter was still perfectly capable of slaughtering him at any time, and with every second that passed his chances of survival diminished.

He took a quick glance backwards without completely distracting his attention from the lancer who was approaching with a steady pace. There was no escape, only walls, locked doors and windows. _The windows! If I manage to jump out of one of them, I may have a chance._ The only problem was he was standing on the third floor, at about 15 m from the ground, and even though his physical abilities were far above average, he had never jumped from such height before.

"- Just give up already, kid, blurted the spearman as he continued drawing closer, his scarlet weapon gleaming with the blood it had spilled." I have to admit that you're damn hard to kill for a teenager, but there's no where you can go now."

Max spent only short moment thinking about the two options available to him. Either he stayed and died, his heart impaled at the end of the man's spear, or he jumped up and prayed his legs would withstand the landing.

Preferring the latter option, he jumped through the window just as the spear struck the tile floor where he was standing an instant sooner. The fall was shorter than he had thought and he landed without too much pain in the courtyard, pieces of glass falling after him. Made it... Not wasting any time to find out if he was out of danger, he set off in a hurry towards home, his heart beating like crazy.

From the shattered window, the man dressed in blue observed the young man fleeing. He was running so fast that after a few seconds he was already out of sight.

" - Who the fuck is this guy ?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably rush a bit the end of the chapter so I'm currently rewriting it. Hope it turns out good ^^'


End file.
